Complaint about seizure of Briscoe Davis's house and family in Linn CountyAuthors: No authors specified.Date: November 18, 1856According to an explanation written by Edward Hoogland on the outside of the document, Briscoe Davis' sister (unnamed) wrote this complaint describing the October 24, 1856 looting of Mr. Davis' house in Linn County by free state supporters led by a Captain Holmes (likely James R. Holmes, a Free State Militia captain). The seizure of Davis' home took place shortly after Governor John Geary's October 1856 visit to southeastern Kansas Territory.

Keywords:Border disputes and warfare; Firearms; Guns; Meyer, J. H.; Militia; Objects; Proslavery activities; Proslavery perspective; Weapons (see also Guns)Letter, A. Pierse to Dear Sir [Eli Thayer]Authors:Pierse, A. Date: March 31, 1857A. Pierse wrote from Washington, D.C. to Eli Thayer in Worcester, Massachusetts. Pierse was born in North Carolina and lived most of his life in the South but had been living in Minnesota Territory for the past seven years. He told Thayer that he planned to move to Kansas in the spring of 1857. Pierse offered Thayer his opinion on what free state supporters should do in Kansas Territory. He informed Thayer that, although he had "Southern opinions on the subject of slavery" and believed the federal government had no right to prohibit slavery in the territories, he was "without prejudice for or against either side" in the debate over slavery in Kansas Territory. Pierse suggested that the best course for free staters to take would be to accept the Dred Scott decision, actively participate in the political process in Kansas Territory, and work for the admission of Kansas as a state with or without slavery. Once Kansas was admitted, he contended, free state supporters would be on firmer legal ground to advocate for the prohibition of slavery, since it was generally accepted that "the people have the power to prohibit slavery in their state." He concluded by stating that once Kansas was a state, free staters could make the case that property would be worth 3 or 4 times more if slavery was prohibited in the state.

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This file was last modified September 12 2013 04:09:26 PM.